Better Horizons
by Legrio
Summary: The experience of one too many horrors leads Snively into seeking out better horizons. But will this change things for the better or lead to the destruction of all?
1. Chapter 1

Legal Stuff: I don't own any of the characters in this work except the ones I created myself and I'm not making any profit off this. Please don't hurt me!

Well, with that out of the way, welcome to my first fanfic. It's set in a fusion of sorts between the SatAM cartoon and the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. Enjoy!

And while this story focuses on Snively, he is far from the only important character.

Warning: Rating is subject to change.

Review please!

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><p>Charles Hedgehog was finishing up his report when he heard someone banging on his door. "That's odd," he thought, "No Freedom Fighters were supposed to be active in the city today…" Tapping a button on his computer, he brought up the spycam he had set up outside his disguised bunker. The image was fuzzy at first, but slowly it resolved into a short, pale figure carrying a bundle of cloth. "Snively!" the roboticized mobian exclaimed. He began pacing as he thought. "How could he have found this place? I know I covered my tracks thoroughly. Well, let's see… he appears to be alone, but he could be hiding a weapon." He reached into his supply closet and pulled out a small blaster he had stolen as a precaution. "It's not much if he has a platoon of swatbots hidden in the garbage or something, but it's better than nothing. I'd better go see what he wants."<p>

Steeling himself, Charles opened the bunker door and pointed his weapon at Snively. He was about to demand what Robotnik's lackey was doing here when the sight of him stopped him short. There was a dead look in the overlander's eyes, like he had just given up. There was a massive bruise on his cheek. His clothes were dirty and torn. And the bundle he was carrying was dripping blood.

"Why don't you uh… come inside?" Charles said, lowering the blaster. Snively slowly nodded and trudged through the door. Charles closed it and directed the overlander to his chair. He sunk into it and sat there for about a minute in silence, cradling the bundle in his lap.

"I can't do this anymore," Snively muttered.

"What?" Charles asked, wondering what on Mobius was going on.

"All of this," he replied. "I came to Mobotropolis to escape all the mockery and abuse of my fellow overlanders, and what do I find? My uncle is the worst of them all. And I thought I could live with it, since with that ruthless bastard leading the mobian armies, to go back was certain death. But no, every day is worse. I've lost track of all the times I've had my bones broken in Robotnik's fits of anger. I can't count how many people I've murdered and roboticized because he would have killed me otherwise. But today was… horrible."

"What happened?" Charles asked, knowing this was important. It seemed like Snively was tottering over the brink here. If he could be convinced to change sides, the amount of information he could bring over could change the course of their war against Robotnik.

"Today, the swatbots captured a group of kids. No, not the Freedom Fighters," Snively said, seeing the look of growing horror on Charles' face. "It was a ragtag bunch living out in the wastelands. I have no idea how they managed to survive out there so long. The oldest couldn't have been more than fifteen. The swatbots marched them all in to the roboticization chamber where Robotnik and myself were waiting. That cruel bastard… he forced the youngest to go first, just so the oldest one, a rabbit girl, would have to watch as all the kids she'd taken care of were turned into mindless automatons, while he mocked her all the while. Just as it was her turn to be transformed, she thrust the small bundle of cloth she'd been carrying at me. I caught it reflexively. It was warm. I opened it and inside was a small sleeping rabbit girl, barely a year old." Snively stopped here a moment.

A chill went through Charles' circuits as he realized just what the bundle sitting in Snively's lap was. Slowly, he motioned for Snively to continue.

"By this point the glass of the roboticizer had slid down, deafening the older girl's cries, but I could read her lips. She was begging me to save her sister, like I even could. Robotnik had been distracted by the roboticization process, but now he noticed me examining the bundle and demanded to know what was going on. I hid the child behind me and exclaimed that nothing was going on. He stomped over and slapped me, hard, with his robotic arm. I fell to the ground, dropping the child, who woke up and began to cry. 'Ooh, what have here?' Robotnik said, roughly grabbing her. 'Nothing but a bit of trash it seems.' Then he threw her into the nearest garbage chute. He kicked me and said, 'That'll teach you to try to hide things from me. Now get out.' I scrambled to my feet and ran. I knew the schedule of the garbage drones. I doubted the baby was still alive, but if I could intercept the drone at the dump, at least I could give it a decent burial. I signaled a nearby hoverpod to take me to the dump. It did, but when I got there all I saw was garbage drones dumping and organizing trash. Standing there, I realized how stupid I had been. There were hundreds of drones constantly going back and forth in Robotropolis, moving around the trash. But then I heard it, the weak cries of the baby. She was nearby! I quickly began to dig with my bare hands."

Here he looked at his scratched fingers, as if noticing them for the first time. "The girl had somehow survived the long drop down the chute and the trip to the dump, but she wouldn't be alive for much longer. A thin spike of metal had pierced her belly as she fell out of the garbage chute. Blood was dripping out, and I didn't know the first thing about medicine. I'd always left all my injuries to the medbots. I couldn't do anything for her, so I cradled her in my hands as she slowly died. I… I didn't know what to do."

Sensing that Snively's story was finished, Charles asked, "How did you find me here?"

"I've known about this place for months. I never saw a reason to tell that fat bastard about it. Maybe I was saving the information for when Robotnik finally lost it and I needed something to save my life. I don't know," he replied.

Snively closed his eyes. Charles waited for him to continue. After a minute, he realized that Snively was asleep. "Ah, he must have been exhausted," he thought. The robotic hedgehog stepped over and picked the corpse of the dead child up. He gently laid her out on his worktable. Then he stepped over to his computer where he had been composing his report to the Freedom Fighters in Knothole and began to quietly type…


	2. Chapter 2

Legal Crap: I don't own any of this except my OCs, and I'm not making any cash here.

Please read and review!

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><p>Opening my eyes, I wondered where I was. It was dark, with only the sound of soft typing in the background. "Did I fall asleep in the command chamber? But then who is typing? Surely Robotnik would have yelled at me if I dared rest in his presence," I bitterly thought. Then it hit me. The group of kids. The baby. Frantically digging in the dump. Holding her as she bled out. That long walk to where I vaguely remembered Sonic's uncle hiding. Then I noticed the baby's body was gone. I frantically stood up, knocking the chair I'd been sitting in over.<p>

"Ah, I see you're awake," Sonic's uncle said, walking into the room. He held a tray with some food on it. It smelled good, but that didn't matter now.

"Where is she?" I asked.

The robotic hedgehog set the tray down on a nearby table. "I keep a freezer here for some food just in case someone has to hide out here for a few days. I put her in there so she wouldn't… smell." He motioned towards the food. "I fixed something in case you might be hungry. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."

I looked at the food. A small pile of corn, some mashed potatoes, and a salisbury steak, probably a pre-war frozen dinner. Before, I would have turned my nose at such pitiful food, but for someone who had eaten little else but nutrient paste for the last ten years, it was a feast. I thanked him and dug in. It was the best thing I'd tasted in years. After I was finished, Sonic's uncle began to speak.

"I've contacted Princess Sally in Knothole and told her everything that happened. After what you told me last night, I assume you no longer wish to stay in Robotropolis?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Snively, what would you say to joining the Freedom Fighters? Now I'm not saying you'd have to go out and fight Robotnik, but even your vast knowledge of the city would be of great use to us," he asked me.

"I… I don't know. Right now I just want to get out of here and give that girl a decent burial. You know, it's funny." I laughed a little, though it was twinged with bitter tears. "I did all this and I don't even know her name."

Sonic's uncle reached over and put his arm on my shoulder. "Alright. We'll head out in a few days to meet with Princess Sally and the others at the edge of the Great Forest." He got up and gathered the tray and utensils.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. "Shit!" I yelled, leaping up. "We have to leave now!"

The roboticized hedgehog dropped the tray in his surprise. "What? Why?"

"Years ago, I installed tracking devices in my last three hairs. Stupid, I know, but they were my last three. Robotnik knows about them. If he hasn't already activated them, he will soon," I said, "Here, yank them out, quick!" He did so, eliciting a wince of pain from me.

"We'll leave them behind here as a decoy," Sonic's uncle said, already rushing to grab a pack I hadn't noticed sitting by the exit. At my curious look, he said, "I always figured I might have to leave in a hurry, so better safe than sorry. Now luckily I keep a few ration bars on hand." He stuffed them into the pack. Then he went into the other room and came back with the body of the rabbit baby, still wrapped in that cloth, along with some rope. "I figured you would want to carry her, but you might need your hands free. Come over here so I can lash her to you."

I did so, and he began to carefully tie the little body to my back. She felt so cold now.

"There, done," he said, stepping over to the computer. "OK, let me send off a message to meet us at the spot tomorrow." He moved back and brought up a small blaster pistol. "One last thing," he said, firing a bolt of energy into computer tower. It exploded in a shower of sparks. "I couldn't let that fall into enemy hands. Well, are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Good," he replied, swinging open the door. It had begun to snow outside, a dingy gray, never white in the pollution of Robotropolis. It reminded me of that hockey game I'd played with the Freedom Fighters about a month ago. At least, I think it was a month ago. After so long, the days start to blur together. I shivered, even though my jumpsuit was quite warm, one of Robotnik's few concessions to the necessities of life in his cold metallic city.

We dodged from junk pile to junk pile, trying to dodge the patrols. Luckily, we didn't see any. The dump was at the outskirts of the city, but it still took us most of the day to get out into the wastes between Robotropolis and the Great Forest. Caused by the nuclear weapons used by Robotnik during the last days of the Great War, the wasteland was mostly barren and very dangerous. You never knew when you would hit an unexploded warhead or something worse. Most of the radiation was gone, siphoned away by spells of the court magician, Ixis Naugus, shortly before he disappeared, but you could still hit lethal pockets of it here and there. We carefully picked our way through, following a set of markers left by different Freedom Fighters over the years who discovered through trial and error the way through. As night began to fall we made camp under an outcropping of rock. No fire, as we didn't want to attract the attention of a passing satellite or one of the wasteland swatbot patrols.

Sonic's uncle passed me one of the ration bars, which I tore open and began to eat. It was dry, but still tasted better than most anything I'd eaten in years. "Thank you," I said, "You know I don't even know your name. It's silly, I know, since you invented the Roboticizer, but Robotnik never spoke of you and erased all mention of your name from our records."

He laughed and said, "My name's Charles Hedgehog, but everyone calls me Chuck or Uncle Chuck these days. What's your name then?"

"Snively, of course," I replied, "I'm surprised you had to ask."

"No, I meant your real name. Surely you weren't born with the name 'Snively'."

"Oh," I said, "My real name is Colin Kintobor. It's just that, it's been so long since anyone ever called me anything but Snively, I guess I started to think of that as my name. It was my father who started calling me that you know, because I cried so much as a child."

We sat in silence for a while. Finally, Charles said, "Well, I guess you should try to get some sleep, if you can. I'll stand watch, not like I can sleep anyhow."

I nodded, slowly drifting off with a cold body at my back.


	3. Chapter 3

Own this, I do not!

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><p>"Come on Sal, you've got to see this is a trick!" Sonic yelled at me, as we all made our way to the meeting spot through the snow. "This is Snively we're talking about here, Robuttnik's own nephew! This is probably just some lame plot to find out where Knothole is again!"<p>

"I know, Sonic, but look at the opportunity. Snively knows more about Robotropolis than anyone other than Robotnik himself. He knows exactly where we can hit him to hurt the most. This means no more dangerous recon missions, no more sabotaging the wrong building. We lose people every week simply because we just don't know! If there's even a chance that this is real, I'll take it," I said.

"I 'ate to agree with ze 'edgehog, but I don't think zis is a good idea!" Antoine said, "What if zere is a platoon of ze swatbots waiting for us?"

"Ya know Sally-girl, Antoine has a point. Maybe we should just send Sonic out first alone? He is the best at fightin' and gettin' away," Bunnie Rabbot said, as she knocked some fallen snow off her ears.

"No, we're all going out together. We need to show Snively that we trust him if we want him to join us. Sending Sonic out alone won't accomplish that."

Looking around, I declared, "Alright, we're about ten minutes away, let's take a break." I turned to the youngest member of our group, who I'd hesitated to bring along. Death wasn't something that I'd wanted to expose the little kid to, but he had to know that this wasn't all fun and games like Sonic seemed to pretend it was sometimes. "Tails, remember, don't go flying off, we don't know what to expect out here."

"Aunt Sally, you do know I've gone off on solo missions before, right? I know how to act in the field," the two-tailed fox replied, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but you've never been on a diplomatic mission like this before. Just stay close, alright?"

Tails sighed, "Fine."

"Rotor, how's that device of yours coming along?" I asked the walrus. Unlike the rest of us, he wasn't bundled up against the cold, with it being his natural environment. Sometimes I wondered why we didn't have him sequestered in R&D, but we really needed every able body we could get.

"The bot detector seems to be working fine. I'm reading one mechanical about ten minutes out in that direction," he said, pointing in the direction of the meeting spot.

"Good," I replied, flipping out my pocket computer. "Nichole, can you display Sir Charles' last couple of reports? I'd like to check everything over before we meet with him."

"Yes, Sally," the pocket computer said in a pleasant female voice, showing them on her screen.

_Agent Uncle Report #187. Princess Sally. This is an important message. Snively appeared at my bunker today. No, he didn't have a platoon of swatbots with him. He was carrying the corpse of a baby girl rabbit with him. He was broken and distraught, dirty and beaten. I let him inside, where I was able to get a tale out of him. It turns out that he'd been threatened and beaten into working for Robotnik and detests the work he does for him. Today, he'd witnessed the roboticization and murder of a group of children who had been hiding out in the wastes. Note: Possibly step up search groups in the wastes? At any rate, this was the last straw for Snively. I don't need to tell you what this could mean to us if we could convince him to defect to the Freedom Fighters. He wants to give the baby a decent burial. I didn't detect any anomalies in his breathing beyond one under his level of stress, so combined with his appearance and attitude, I'm inclined to believe him. Also, I scanned the baby. It's real. In about four days' time we'll travel to the northern outskirts of the Great Forest, at the usual meeting spot. Please be there._

_Agent Uncle Final Report. My bunker has been compromised. Snively remembered some tracking devices in his last three hairs. We have removed them, but have no way of knowing if Robotnik has begun tracking them yet. I broached the subject of joining the Freedom Fighters beforehand. He seemed hesitant, but didn't reject me outright. Also, he seems to have been poorly fed, since he thoroughly enjoyed one of my old frozen dinners. At any rate, we leave immediately; please meet us the previous coordinates tomorrow. I'll be destroying the hard drive after this message is sent, so don't bother responding._

Nodding to myself, I turned Nicole off. "Alright everyone, break's over! Let's go see what this is all about, but be wary."

"Don't have to tell me twice Sal. I still say this whole thing stinks of ol' Buttnik," Sonic muttered, as we forged ahead.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own anything, don't sue me bro!

R&R please!

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><p>Focus. Look down the barrel. Fire! Direct hit! The monstrous scorpion's head exploded. "Hah, after all this time, I've still got it," I said, laughing.<p>

At this, Sniv-no, Colin snapped awake. "What's going on?" he asked.

I put away my blaster pistol and pointed to where the giant insect was smoldering about twenty yards away. "That thing caught scent of us a while back, so I had to kill it. I was hoping it would miss us, but we weren't so lucky. You know, we never did figure out where they came from," I said, stroking my metallic chin.

He peered out into the wastes. "Oh, those?" he said, getting to his feet. "Robotnik made them one day when he was bored. I think he wanted to see if he could create something that could actually thrive out here. Called them Radscorpions for some reason, I wasn't about to ask. All I know is they're big, they're poisonous, and they're always hungry."

I nodded. "Well Colin, let's get going."

"Just call me Snively. It's what I'm used to," he said tiredly, shifting the morbid bundle on his back.

I frowned, but didn't argue. Already, the giant trees of the Great Forest loomed in the distance. We set off, luckily not encountering any more mutated creatures. About two hours later, we had arrived at the meeting spot, a small clearing just inside the forest. A light snowfall dusted the bare trees. The Freedom Fighters hadn't arrived yet.

"Do you… do you think we could bury her here?" Snively awkwardly asked me.

"No, there's a graveyard in Knothole, we can bury her there," I replied, though not unkindly. Carrying the dead body of a stranger for days just to see she got a proper burial was hard, cold work, more than most people would do, really. I should know, I did it more than once during the war. "Besides, I doubt you could shift the frozen soil here anyways, so close to the hard packed wastes."

"Alright," Snively said, looking around.

It was then we heard something moving in the forest, coming towards us. They burst out of the frozen underbrush, shaking off the snow. Though not the original group of Freedom Fighters, they were who I had come to think of as the core, Princess Sally Acorn, my nephew Sonic the Hedgehog, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette, and Rotor Walrus. Plenty of others had joined up along the way, but they had been among the first. I frowned. For some reason they'd brought along Tails as well. He looked curious, sneaking glances at the bundle on Snively's back. I'd never approved of Sonic and the others involving him in our war against Robotnik, but sometimes we needed everyone we could get. My nephew looked unhappy to be here, but he kept his piece for now.

"Hello, Sir Charles, Snively," the princess started, "I'm glad to see you got here safely. Were you followed?"

"No, I think we got out undetected," I replied, "Though I had to kill a mutant scorpion out in the wastes."

"Good, one less of those creatures to worry about," she said. Most mobians respected nature, but the monsters out in the wastes weren't part of it and were freely killed by anyone who encountered them, if they could. It was considered a mercy.

"Now, Snively, I've heard that you wanted to get away from your uncle's control. Would you mind telling us exactly why you want to go?" she asked, not unkindly.

Snively told them everything that he'd told me. At the end, everyone wore varying looks of horror, with Tails himself looking rather nauseous and pale.

Finally, Sonic spoke up, "All that stuff that happened to you is not cool, but there's one thing that's been bugging me. After lardbutt trapped himself in the Void, why did you try to suck the entire Great Forest into that portal if he was forcing you to do everything?"

Snively looked uncomfortable. Finally, he said, "There's something… weird about the Void portal. When you're around it, you don't think straight, and the longer you stay, the worse it gets. We had been working on it for days before Robotnik was trapped in there."

Princess Sally made a choked sound and cried, "Oh no, father!"

"Why are you worried about him?" Snively asked, truly sounding puzzled, "King Acorn was banished to the Zone of Silence, not the Void, though they are similar."

"That's, that's good," Princess Sally said. She took a moment to compose herself. "Well, you know that once he realizes you've left, if he hasn't already, he'll hunt you forever, since he can't afford to let you go with the information in your head. I'd be willing to let you join the Freedom Fighters on a provisional basis, if you will help us in our war against Robotnik."

"I, I," Snively stuttered, looking uncertain. Just as he was about to respond, he was interrupted by a voice we all dreaded.

"SNIVELAAAAAAAAY!"

"Oh no!" the short overlander shrieked, seeming to shrink in on himself.

"I was investigating the death of one of my beloved Radscorpions, and what do I find? You, consorting with these disgusting animals! I overlooked it last time because I thought it might be a chance to capture some Freedom Fighters, but I heard everything you've said! How dare you betray me like this! If this thing had weapons I'd shoot you on the spot!" Robotnik's voice bellowed from a small surveillance drone that was hovering on the edge of the clearing. "When I get my hands on you I'll-"

He was interrupted by an explosion as Sonic spindashed through the drone, destroying it. "Well, that takes care of that," the blue hedgehog said, shaking metal particles out of his quills. "We'd better juice."

"Yes, I agree," Snively said, calming down as he realized that Robotnik was nowhere near. "Standard procedure in case of something like this is to send out three squads of swatbots in a wide pattern to search the area." He appeared to do some quick mental calculations. "The closest one should be here in about twenty minutes. And as for your earlier question, Princess Sally, yes, I'll join the Freedom Fighters. I don't think I would survive on my own and I don't know if I could live with myself otherwise."

"Alright everyone, grab a hand," Sonic said, taking a Power Ring out of his backpack. I knew what was about to happen and quickly grabbed the two nearest to me, Rotor and Snively. "And hold on tight!" my nephew cried, the Power Ring glowing brightly. The world seemed to blur as we burst off at incredible speed, snow flying away in a great wake behind us.


	5. Chapter 5

Blah blah, not making any money here, blah blah, don't sue, etc etc...

R&R please!

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><p>We slowly came to a halt. I stumbled around for a bit before collapsing to my knees, puking. I was completely disoriented. The big walrus, Rotor I think it was, offered me a rag out his pack and said sympathetically, "Yeah, I reacted the same way when I first got a taste of Sonic speed. I keep asking him to keep the unnecessary turns to a minimum, but he never listens. You'll get used to it, eventually."<p>

I nodded, wiping my mouth. I offered him back his rag, but he took one look at it and just said, "Eh… you can keep it."

Once the world stopped spinning, I got up and looked around. We were near what must be Knothole Village. There was a huge wooden wall, at least ten feet tall. At one point was a thick wooden gate reinforced with scavenged metal. As we neared the guards glared at me.

"Princess, what on Mobius are you thinking bringing him here?" a black and white skunk demanded as he stomped towards us. He pointed a finger right at me as he yelled, "That little monster over there should be in prison or worse!"

"Geoffrey!" the Princess, exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Apparently stopping your fit of madness! Do you know how many people you are putting in danger right now?" he said, sweeping his hand towards the village. "I won't let you endanger them for whatever stupid plan you've come up with."

At this, the previously friendly royal stiffened. "You won't let me?" she asked in a cold voice. "Might I remind you who is in charge here? Your Rebel Underground may be associated with the Freedom Fighters, but you do not tell me what to do. I am Princess Sally Alicia of the House of Acorn. I have weighed the risks carefully, and Snively could be an invaluable resource. Now leave before I lose my temper."

"Fine, Princess, but don't come crying to me when Robotnik razes this place to the ground!" he shouted, waving an arm to the burly guards. "Come on men, let's get out of here."

After the angry skunk and his group stalked off the Princess turned to me and said, "I'm sorry you had to see that, but unfortunately we're not exactly a united front. All of us resistance groups have our own ideas about how we want to conduct the war against Robotnik, and of course we don't always agree."

"It's alright, I didn't expect to be accepted without any trouble. The things I've done…" I trailed off, lost in the memories of all those atrocities.

A duck in a lab coat came up to us. He had what looked to be a cigarette in his beak. He coughed, interrupting my introspection. "Well," he commented, looking the group over, "I'm surprised. For once you come back without any casualties, even after a confrontation with that smelly asshole. I'm told you've brought a body for burial?" he brusquely asked me.

Seeing my surprise, Rotor spoke up, "Snively, this is Dr. Quack, our lead physician here in Knothole. He'll take the body to our morgue to prepare her for burial."

I carefully untied the little body from me. She still had that look of pain frozen on her little face. I gently handed her over.

"Well, I'm surprised one of you overlanders would care so much to bring a little's girl's body all this way just for a proper funeral," the doctor said, looking her over. "We'll have her ready by tonight."

"Thank you," I said, relieved to have that terrible weight off my back.

Dr. Quack just shrugged and walked off.

"So, what should I do now?" I wondered aloud.

"Rotor, would you mind showing Snively around? I need to fill out some paperwork and arrange for some place for Snively to stay. Sonic, Sir Charles, would you mind coming along?" Sally asked.

"Paperwork, Sal? You've gotta be kidding!" Sonic exclaimed.

"Sonic, you and I both know you have a stack of unfilled out reports about two feet high. If you don't start working on them I'll…" The princess's voice trailed off as the trio walked off towards an important looking building.

"Me an' Antoine have a session scheduled at the trainin' facility," Bunnie said, walking off with the aforementioned coyote.

"Tails, do you want to come along?" Rotor asked the fox. The little kid reminded me of group of kids I'd witnessed being roboticized.

"Sure," he replied, "I've got nothing else to do today since everyone else is busy."

The village was larger than I expected. There were newer wooden houses and older huts as well as houses and rope bridges up in the trees. And there were hundreds of mobians walking around, building, working, selling, and buying. I'd had absolutely no idea there were this many! And there was a surprising amount of technology on display, with wires going from building to building.

Rotor caught my look of amazement and said, "Surprised there are so many of us, eh?"

"Yes," I replied, looking around. "I had always assumed the Freedom Fighters were a small organization."

"Well, most of the people here are just refugees who want to live a life of freedom," he said, walking alongside me as we all went to the gates. "And only the best Freedom Fighters actually go out into the field, especially on missions into Robotropolis. It's far too dangerous for your average mobian. A lot of us work here as support staff."

"Then why does Antoine go out on missions?" I asked, then quickly added, "No offense, but he just doesn't seem very… competent."

"I know Ant' doesn't look like much, but he's really good with that sword of his," Tails spoke up. Then his stomach grumbled. "Say, is anyone hungry?" he asked, "I know this hot dog stand that me and Sonic go to all the time! They have awesome food."

I realized how hungry I was since I hadn't eaten anything since that ration bar last night and I'd thrown up after being pulled behind that crazy hedgehog. "That sounds fine," I replied, "But I don't have any money on me."

"That's fine," Rotor said, "I've got some coin."

A while later we sat on a bench eating our food. The lady running the stand had looked at me curiously, but hadn't said anything. The plain hot dog I'd ordered tasted good, though I wondered where they got the meat. Thinking it over, I decided I really didn't want to know.

"Say, would you like to see our R&D lab? Tails here even has his own section. He's very good with machines," Rotor asked as finished his.

"Sure," I replied, very interested. I knew that the Freedom Fighters often used very eclectic equipment, and a chance to see where some of it came from would be interesting. And it would take my mind off the upcoming funeral.

"Why don't you tell Snively about that submarine you built, Tails?" Rotor said, as we walked along.

The two-tailed fox launched into a story about how he'd had a dream about a submarine as we walked along. He was just finishing up as we came to a more sturdily built building than most of the others. It smelled faintly of burnt wires and chemicals, reminding me of when I would experiment with electronics in my youth. We stepped inside. There were several mobians working at benches on various projects. One, a black and white cat whose coloring reminded me of that skunk, Geoffrey, from earlier, stood up from the swatbot head she'd been working on as she noticed us coming in. She wore a red vest and a blue scarf. "Oh, hello!" she said, waving at us.

"Hi, Hershey," Rotor said, introducing us. "This is Snively, he decided to defect to us from Robotnik after seeing… things. Snively, this is Hershey. We've been teaching her some technical skills so she could help us out here. Speaking of which, how's that bot head coming along?"

"Not so good, I've been having some trouble removing the data core," she said, looking down.

"The data core? Oh, that's easy," I said, moving over to the deactivated swatbot head. This was something I knew all about. I picked up a nearby screwdriver. "First you remove this panel here…"


End file.
